SiTime: Silicon-Based Timing for Simplified System Designs

The global semiconductor industry is experiencing an unprecedented growth as the demand for semiconductor components by the communications and automotive markets continue to surge.

SiTimes’ μPower, the ultra-small
oscillator consumes 90 percent
less power and is about 80 percent
smaller than the quartz oscillators

The introduction of cutting edge consumer electronics such as smartphones, ultra mobiles, electric cars, and other wearable devices, in combination with the advances in digitization technologies and IoT, is accelerating semiconductor consumption by leaps and bounds. The manufacturer's need for better design configuration and the end-user's desire for power-efficient wearable devices are other major elements behind the rapid expansion in the variety of semiconductor components in use today.

A fully owned subsidiary of Megachips Corporation, SiTime is a Sunnyvale, CA based semiconductor firm with proven expertise in programmable analog technologies and feature-rich timing products. Having acquired a substantial market presence in the timing components industry with their silicon MEMS (Micro-electromechanical systems) based oscillators and clock-generators, SiTime is spearheading the transition of timing components from legacy quartz oscillators to 100 percent silicon-based timing components.

With high volume designs in networking, computing and storage segments, SiTime products are being used by thousands of customers in applications ranging from mobiles to automotives. SiTime's MEMS products have been mainly used in digital cameras, high end computers and products that include cellular base stations. Since the last five years of its operations, the company has been catering to the telecom, wireless and industrial applications and has penetrated the smartphone market with their first MEMS oscillators for mobile phones. "We've made it easy for OEMs and ODMs to use SiTime, our oscillators are drop-in replacements for quartz crystal oscillators without any design or layout changes," elucidates Rajesh Vashist, CEO, SiTimes.

SiTimes' recently introduced MEMS timing solutions for the wearable, IoT, and mobile markets, have been tremendously successful with the demand for them accelerating within a short time frame. The company's programmable, voltage controlled, temperature compensated oscillators (VCTCXO) have proved to be the most flexible and credible solutions for telecom, networking, wireless and embedded applications, and are available in industry standard packages. Meanwhile, the MEMS-based 32 kHz Super-TCXO solutions (Resonators) are fast replacing the traditional quartz crystals in the wearable and mobile applications where saving space and power, aids in sleeker designs. The latest super--TCXO family features +5PPM all-inclusive frequency stability and an optional in-system auto-calibration feature that eliminates the board-related frequency error sources.

CEO

SiTimes' ?Power, the ultra-small oscillator consumes90 percent less power and is about 80 percent smaller than the quartz oscillators. The oscillators are based on SiTime's Temp Flat MEMS and low power analog technologies and provide the widest frequency range that makes it suitable for portable audio applications.

With a wide array of easily configurable solutions that have enabled its clients to create high performing products with streamlined designs and better reliability, SiTime prides itself for offering the best availability and the shortest lead times in the analog semiconductor industry. Having won numerous accolades for its innovative products, the firm has outpaced its competitors with its easily configurable timing solutions with its revolutionary MEMS and analog technology that lowers total power consumption dramatically. "SiTime has had a strong and enduring vision- to revolutionize the timing market as the clock signal constitutes the core of every digital electronic system that impacts the performance of the entire system as well," concludes Vashist.